The Long Way Round

September 1, 2015 kate brand

Once we completed our last charters it was off to the other side of the world again - this time, and for the first time, South Korea. We had been asked to join a project there for 10 days and couldn't turn down the opportunity. We had a few days to kill before we flew to Seoul so we decided to take the long way round, via Guatemala, to visit Melody and explore a bit more than the Rio and the marina.

The first stop was Flores, a tiny island town on a lake in the north east of Guatemala, close to the Belizean border. You can circumnavigate the island on foot in a mere 30min. Tiny indeed. The cobblestone streets are lined with colourful old buildings, many with obvious Spanish influence and most of them have beautiful decorative steel balustrades and intricate "spanish bars" over the windows.

There are many little hotels, you can find at least 3 on every street, and the malecon is lined with interesting restaurants and bars for every budget and palette. One of Rufus' favourite things to do in each place we visit is try the street food. In the afternoons, local women set up stalls with colourful assortments of traditional dishes and desserts. We went back to those stalls twice and still had dinner afterwards!

It's a beautiful little town and we have been back since. A great place to relax and get good food and cocktails, especially during happy hour ;)

the local carpentry and handwoven fabrics are beautiful

delicious meals and generous portions to be had here, at budget friendly prices

a little more on the pricey side but definitely worth a visit to this restaurant

Texan Bay

August 19, 2015 kate brand

We motored slowly up the river for most of the morning and, instead of heading straight to the marina for haul out, we decided to anchor in a quiet spot for the evening.

We chose Texan Bay, a tiny cruiser friendly spot located roughly half way up the river, between Livingston and Fronteras. There are a few tiny "marinas" in the bay with local casas dotted along the banks, just barely visibly between all the greenery.

We spent the afternoon swimming, exploring with our kayak and sampling some ceviche at one of the restaurants on the water. Mostly we just relaxed and took time to catch our breath after the non-stop craziness of traveling from South Africa to Belize, going straight into charter work and then rushing to get Melody to Guatemala.

Rollin' up the Rio

August 18, 2015 kate brand

We didn't stay in Livingston for long. After a few hours of formalities, food and exploring the small town, we started motoring up the Rio.

We took our time, trundling along. It really is something to behold. Once you pass Livingston the river funnels into a spectacular canyon with thick tropical forest blanketing sheer rock face, straight down into the water. It's peaceful, no noise except for the bird song, monkey calls, bugs humming and the occasional launcha, outboard motor, zipping past you.

Photos and video cannot do this experience justice. I have googled the crap out of it since and nothing I have found captures it properly.

If you look carefully you can find traditional houses built from wood and palm leaves, tucked in between the overhanging forest. It is not uncommon to see a canoe, dugout of a tree trunk, filled with women dressed in traditional Mayan costume, paddling to the next house or across the river to visit friends.

The further up the river you go the more "developed" the banks become as the casas grow larger and more extravagant, some incorporating brick and clay tiles into their designs, eventually adding covered parking areas alongside private jetties for their shiny power boats, worths tens of thousands of USD.

We prefered the more modest casas with their beautiful asymmetrical woodwork and brightly coloured touches here and there.

Rufus taking a photo of me taking a photo of him

trying in vain to capture the beauty of the forest cliffs

Going to Guatemala

August 17, 2015 kate brand

As soon as we got off charter we had to get Melody ready to leave Belize. The Belizean authorities only give you a three month cruising visa for your yacht and to renew it you have to leave the country, unlike a lot of other cruising destinations in the Caribbean. Unfortunately Belize is not a very cruiser friendly country - it is ridiculously expensive, there are five different governmental departments you need to pay and for some of those fees they cannot provide you with receipts for cash paid... Need I say more? If you have ever taken your boat to Chaguaramas in Trinidad you will know what I mean when I say the Belizean authorities are as "friendly and welcoming" as the Trinis...

They are not very understanding if you overstay your allotted time and since we left to South Africa for three months, directly after sailing Melody to Belize from Trinidad, we were already over our time and had to move her fast. Luckily there wasn't too high of a "facilitation fee" involved in our exit and we left as soon as all the paperwork was sorted.

Our awesome boss Cliff was once again so understanding and helpful (he loaded melody with food and other nice goodies from the charter boats) and helped us off the dock along with the Marina Manager, Collette and her team.

We decided to sail down to Guatemala, into the Rio Dulce, which is a popular spot for cruisers to hide out with their boats during hurricane season. Guatemala borders Belize to the south, a 5 hour bus trip from Belize City, if you go by land. This would be our first time in Guatemala and we were super stoked to check it out. We had heard a lot about it from friends and other cruisers and the reports were all positive.

The trip down is very short, we left at lunch time and arrived at Livingstone, at the mouth of the Rio, a few hours after sunrise the next morning. The first obvious indication that you are near a river mouth is the change in water colour and then something I didn't expect, the smell. To me, when we are out at sea it doesn't really smell like anything, not like the "sea/fishy" smell of a harbour etc. The river smells sweet. Its the only way I can describe it. And because the river banks are basically tropical forest, extending right into the water, the sounds of the wildlife and the birds is something magical.

We anchored right at the mouth, in front of the town of Livingston, to check in and take care of all the formalities, changing USD to local Quetzales (pronounced Ket-za-les) and of course the essentials: food and a cold beer!